Lecture 12 - Experiments
Argument, Data, and Politics - POLS 3312

Agenda

• Today

    - Review results of Monday randomization activity
  
    - Article "Why do citizens prefer high-skilled immigrantso low-skilled immigrants? Identifying causal mechanisms of immigration preferences with a survey experiment." Research & Politics, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20531680221091439 
  
    - In class activity

• For next time

    - Begin observational studies: variable types, sampling, and measurement
    - Recommended reading: https://nulib-oer.github.io/empirical-methods-polisci/data.html sections on variable types, sampling, and measurement
    - The remainder of that chapter are topics we previously covered, but may be useful for review towards the final exam

Monday Activity

• I asked for:

    - Your month and day of birth
    - Your minor or major that is not political science

• I then assigned each observation based on the quarter of the year (Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec)

• The birthdate provides an “as if” random assignment to the four groups

Monday Activity Results

===========================================
   Birthdate Birth.quarter   Major.minor   
-------------------------------------------
1              Birthdate      Length:48    
2              Birthdate   Class :character
3              Birthdate   Mode :character 
4              Birthdate                   
5              Birthdate                   
6              Birthdate                   
7              Birthdate                   
8            Birth.quarter   Min. :1.000   
9            Birth.quarter  1st Qu.:1.000  
10           Birth.quarter  Median :3.000  
11           Birth.quarter   Mean :2.511   
12           Birth.quarter  3rd Qu.:4.000  
13           Birth.quarter   Max. :4.000   
14           Birth.quarter     NA's :1     
15            Major.minor     Length:48    
16            Major.minor  Class :character
17            Major.minor  Mode :character 
18            Major.minor                  
19            Major.minor                  
20            Major.minor                  
21            Major.minor                  
-------------------------------------------

Monday Activity Results

Monday Activity Results

Monday Activity Results

Monday Activity Results

Article Discussion

“Why do citizens prefer high-skilled immigrantso low-skilled immigrants? Identifying causal mechanisms of immigration preferences with a survey experiment.” Research & Politics, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20531680221091439

In Class Activity

• In this activity, we are going to use a survey experiment vignette from an international relations study. I will give you full information on the study after the activity.
• I am doing the same activity with the other section of POLS 3312 with a different vignette (treatment) and I will show you full results after both classes have done it.
• Both classes will have a treatment and control group.
• This is not for use outside of this class. For a variety of reasons, this is a simulation, not a reliable experiment.

In Class Activity

• You will be randomly assigned to a group.
• The two groups will separate to opposite ends of the room, receive their survey, and complete it.
• You can then return to your regular seat and we will compile the results.

Authorship, License, Credits

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• Do not submit to Chegg or similar websites

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.</>